Holding socket for fountain pens



y 1930- s. ALSTILWELL 1,771,661

HOLDING SOCKET FOR FOUNTAIN PENS Filed Aug. 22. 1928 1 .1 23 K /a A? Fia.5. "21 z? O A9 7 1. F

9 /8 FIG-.3. v

INVENTOF? STEPHENA .STILWELL ATTOFQNEY Patented July 29, 19 30 a, UNITED- STATES STEPHEN A. STILWELL, OF LEBANON, OHIO nonnnve sooner FOR FOUNTAIN runs,

Application filed i'lugust 22, 1928. Serial No. 301,386.

This invention'relates to improvements in swivel pen-holding sockets such as are generally used on desks orswriting-tables in connection with both fountain and ordinary dip 5 pens, providing a socket member that is mounted on a suitable base to hold the pen in a convenient swivel or pivotal position for the user to easily deposit and release or grasp it, and atthe same time provide a means whereby the ink remaining on the penpoint after use'will not be smeared over the surface of the desk or soil any ofthe papers and various other articles that are strewed. or laid thereon.

15. The various pen-sockets in general (use have only partially provided these advantages since, inthe case of the ball-and-socket and other similar adjustable varieties, an accidental blow or knock from a heavy paper so or book will deflect the pen-socket to a -posi- 7 tion whereby the pen will fall or fly out, or cause other inconvenience, while'those providing afined upright or a fixed oblique-angled position for the pen-socket are either i easily overturned or the pen broken oil by the accidental hit or blow by a book or a heavy paper, or other moving object.

The essential purpose of my invention is to provide a self-adjusting or automatic seatso ing or setting swivel pen-holding socket which is inexpensive to manufacture and is highly efficient in actual use, being free from the usual defects in similar devices, such as said breakage and upsetting.

05 Another useful purpose of my invention is to provide a swivel pen-socket which shall be capable of maintaining a predetermined fixed position and at the same time capable of yielding momentarily to any force which 0 may operate to deflect the pen from its nor- -mal position, the pen again, automatically and instantly, regaining its normal position,

whether perpendicular or inclined, when the objectionable force ceases to act and without -2 danger of upsetting or breakage to either the pen, the pen-holding socket, or the base-suport.

p My invention consists, therefore, of a pen socket or tubular receptacle and a base-support, a retractile spring, the latter being provided in said'base-support and connected to said pen-socket and the baseprovide'dwith an upright conical projection andthebottom of said pen-socket being adapted to fit over the said conicalprojection andthe said t le Spring acting to maintain a definite perpendicular or obliquely-angular relation between the base and the pen-socket as occasion or fancy may requiref p i In the accompanying sheet of'drawings, forminga part of this specification, Figure 1 isa front elevation of a self setting or righting pen-socket embodying my invention; Fig. 2, also a' front elevation of the device with its upper swivel-portion deflected by some force, purposely orotherwise, from its upright normal position; Fig. 3, a vertical section taken on the line 3, 3, ofFig. 1 Fig.

4-, a bottomplan view of tl1ebase-member of the device; and Fig. 5, a side elevation of an adaptation of my improved pensocket, with its upper swivelportion definitely heldjor 1sjtopped at a normallyvoblique-angle to the ase. i

As illustrated in these views," the pen-V socket shown may bevinade of any suitable material, and it consists of a base-member 1 of sufiicient size, shape and weight that it Will not be easily overturned when p'laced on a desk or writing-table, and a pen-socket2 is yieldingly mounted.thereon, exten'ding up, wardlytherefrom, and preferably, but not" essentially, at itscenter. v v

The base-member l ishollow or open bottomed and is surmounted by a frustum of a cone 12 that has a centralcircular or cylindrlcal open1ng13 that extends into the open bottom or chamber 14 of said basemember.

Extending outward from the baseof said cone 12 I provide a shoulder 15-that is surrounded by an annular channel or groove "16 and a skirting peripheral ring or vertical. outerwall17, Q 7 p The pen-socket 2 consistsof a main or body portlon 3 that is adapted to telescopically contain an expansible slitted 0r split penclutch4 of flexible hard rubber, Orflike elastic material, and stopped by a funnel mouth 4*. The said body portion 3 is contractedat t0 form a cylindrical pendent extension 6 Ca L of smallerdiameter and with its internal diameter the same as that of the base of the cone 12, and it is provided at its lower edge with an outwardly-extending flange 7 which rests on the shoulder 15 of the base 1, being 4 held in yielding cushioned-contact therewith by means of a conical compression-spring 18 whose broad upper end is seated in the shouldered orifice 18 made in the dome top 18 of said base-member 1, and acts through the link-pin 19 which is connected at one end 20 to the spring 18 and at the other end 21 to a central downward extension 22 of a disk-bottom 23 in the said body-portion 3 of the pensocket. v I

The external diameter of the flange 7 is less than that of the internal diameter of the annular ring 17 and does not contact therewith when the pen-socket in its normal upright position, as shown in Figs; 1, 3 and 5.

hen the pen-socket 2 is deflected from its normal upright position seen in Fig. lto an oblique-angled position seen in Fig. 2, the flange 7 drops into the channel or groove 16 andis retained in its proper relation to the cone-12 by means of the outer flange or ring 17. i v j Thecontractii 'e tension of the retractile spring 18 draws the ower circular edge of the pen-socket into the proper frictional rollingecontact with the cone 12 sothat there is no shock when the socket-member returns to normal position or duly set'or checked after it has been drawn .or rocked away from its normalposition .asseen in Figs. 1 or 5, purposely or accidentally, and the pen cannot dislodge .or fly from; seated place therein.

Inf Fight) I have shown .an inner quarter or quadrant section-extension 24 at the lower end ofthe body-portion 2 of the pen-socket to limit thefixed upper seating of the swivel pen-socketat an inclination from the perpendicular, the lower edge ofsaid quadrant eing of the same structure as that of the lower flanged edge of the pen-socket seen in Fig. 3 and adapted to engage the same kind of a channeled formation'in the dome 18 or" the base 1', but the pen-socket. in this event could not advance beyond the fixed limit of said quadrant, the lower deflection of the socket being otherwise yielding under theaction of theretractile spring the same as in the form seen in Figs. 2 and 3. s In Figs. 1,2.a1id 5 I show a broken fragment A of a pen as it appears when in en ga ement with the socket-member.. v

'lhe quadrant-extension 24 in Fig. 5 serves as a mask or cover for the spring and cone details seenin Figs. 2 and 3 which ordinarily ma he a little unsightly.

1. A' jswivel ,selfsetting holder-soeket for fountain pens comprising, in combination, a socket member having temporary detainingmeanstherein for accommodating the writing-end of the pen, a base-member having an orifice that is provided with a circular raceway-bearing for the lower end of said socketmember, resilient tension-means in said bearing-orifice and means comprising a cylindrical pendent extension at said lower end of the socket-member for pivot-ally coupling the latter with the said resilient tension-means in the said bearing-orifice whereby the said socket-member may be sustained upright at the desired angle above the top of said basemember in a resilient self-adjusting position and without allowing any undue tipping of the holder device, substantially as shown and described.

2. A holder-socket for fountain pens comprising, in combination, a socket-member providedwith a circular lower hearing-end adapted to receiveand frictionally-detain the writing-end of a pen,a base-member having a cone-circled orifice in its upper face, a perpendicular peripheral wall and an annular raceway. surrounding the saidcone-circled orifice, a pierced lug extending from the said lower bearing-end of the socket-member, a vertical retractile spring whose lower end is connected in said orifice with the baseineinberand whose upper end is attached to said pierced lug for exerting a resilient tension on said socket-member in the prompt adjustment of the latter to normalperpendicular position or at any desired angle above the top or" the base-member, substantially as shown and described.- 7 s In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature. z

STEPHEN A. STILXVELL. 

